Home to Canadian Football League team BC Lions and Major League Soccer team Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Vancouver’s BC Place stadium now boasts an architectural lighting effects system. Home to Canadian Football League team BC Lions and Major League Soccer team Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Vancouver’s BC Place stadium is a premier venue. It has hosted appearances from such iconic figures Pope John Paul II, Madonna, Michael Jackson and, of course, Winter Olympic athletes. Following a major upgrade, BC Place has become a new landmark of Vancouver’s skyline and a place of pride for all British Columbians, due in no small part to the new lighting effects system, which not only adds to the stadium architecturally but also allows BC Place to ‘come alive’ both inside and out. Controlling this new and sophisticated integrated lighting system, which utilises energy-efficient LED fixtures from Lumenpulse, is a Pharos LPC 60 programmed with the Pharos Designer software, enabling displays of a vast array of static or moving colour designs on the exterior and interior of the stadium. More than nine acres of roof, clear façade panels on the side of the building and the roof’s support masts all provide an incredible canvas for displays of both static and dynamic lighting, with more than 26,000 individual programmable lighting elements. As a stadium with two ‘home’ teams, BC Place needed to feel unique for both, so part of the brief for lighting designers C M Kling & Associates was the ability to completely transform the building depending on which team was playing. Colour and sequenced lighting now creates identifiable signature scenes for each. Other features include gradually-moving, abstracted, colour changing content on the façade in tandem with fixed roof colours. These shows are scheduled before and during the games and are paced so as not to distract the audience or players. When a team scores, a series of dynamic, fast-paced sequences are triggered, some of which also interact with the audience as they participate in activities like ‘The Wave’. BC Place is illuminated from 5.30am to sunrise and from sunset to 10pm most nights. On event nights, the roof and Northern Lights Display are lit until the conclusion of the event. The lighting also enables BC Place Management to bring awareness to events, charities and causes that are important to all communities in British Columbia, by offering special lighting for dedicated charitable events and recognized causes. Photo: Ed White www.pharoscontrols.com
